Wheel for automobiles



E. K. BAKER.

WHEEL FOR AUTOMOBILES. APPLICATION FILEDAUGJO, 19211 Patented Dec. 6, 1921:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ERLE KING BAKE-It, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR 'IO BAKER WHEEL & RIM COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A COBPOBATION OF ILLINOIS.

WHEEL FOB AUTOMOBILES.

Specification of Letters" Patent.

Patented Dec. 6, 1921.

. Application filed August'20, 1921. Serial No. 493,775.

. useful mprovements in and for Wheels for Automobiles, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in motor wheels of the class having spokes which are mitered at their inner endsand assembled to form awooden hub center.

Such spokes are notslipped into the hub,

but are made in such form that the completely assembled wheel may be placed on a suitable metal hub and secured thereto between hub flanges.

The invention is an improvement upon and subsidiary to that described and claimed in our, co-pending application, Se: rial No. 357,440, filed February 9, 1920.

In manufacturing and assembling wooden wheels, the wheels are made up without being fitted to the permanent hubs, and in the handling and shipping of such wheels the spoke butts at the hubs, which are usually held against transverse movement only by frictional engagement with one another,

are. often jarred and loosened .or become somewhat Warped. This loosening of the hub center of the wheel greatly lessens the strength, and consequently the commercial value thereof.

It is the object of my invention to provide a wheel center construction which will make impossible any individual spoke movement after the wheel. is once made up, and to greatly increase the strength and commercial value of the wheel.

The general nature and details of my invention will be readily understood on reference to the accompanying drawings, which illustrate the demountable wheel, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a sectional view of an auto mobile wheel embodying my invention, mounted upon an automobile front wheel hub ;--Fig. 2 is an enlarged'section of the central portion of the same wheel mounted upon an automobile rear hub which bears the brake drum ;-Fig. 3 is a face view of the hub-center ring or member, taken from Fig. 2;--Fig. 4- illustrates the method which I follow in applying the centering members to my wheels;--Figs. 5, 6, 7, and

8 are sectional views illustrating modified forms of the wheel centering member.

The particular wheel shown in Fig. 1 comprises the radial wooden spokes, 2, and the fixed rim, 3, the latter being an endless ring of metal havin one integral flange and one detachable side flange 3', 3, and adapted to receive the pneumatic tire T. This wheel is further-characterized by the hub center, 3", which comprises spoke butts, 4, which are compressed and firmlyseated one against the other. Wheels of the general character described are, after assembly,

centrally bored to form a hub-hole. In the application of my invention to such wheels, the ortion of the hub center, adjacent the hubole, is beveled or tapered at 4, on the inner side, for the purpose to be hereinafter described.

Such wheels are mounted upon automobile hubs, H, which are characterized by fixed back flanges, H, .and are secured thereto by means of a plurality of hub bolts, H". i v

Commonlyevery hub is provided with a detachable flange which, in use, engages the outer side of the wheel. I entirely dispense with such detachable or outer hub flange and construct my wheels in such manner as. to make them unnecessary; and in doing so I employ means like unto that described in aforesaid application, Ser. No. 357,440 for permanently interlocking the spoke butts of the wheel, and provide the hub hole of the wheel with a metal facing adapted for rockable contact with the vehiclehub, H.

As will be seen from the drawings, each of my wheels is characterized by a central metal member comprising a flange-like portion, 5, and a ring-like portion, 5', in'one piece.

As before stated, the hole, 4, is flared or beveled toward the inner side of the wheel. Initially the portion, 5', is substantially perpendicular to the portion 5, as shown in full lines in Fig. 4. In that condition the portion 5 is small enough to enter the hole, 4, within the wooden center of the wheel. After being so positioned, the portion, 5, is expanded, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 4, and thereby the whole device 5 -5 is frictionally clamped upon the spoke butts.

The opening 5" within the metal part is preferred form of the structure detailed in Fig. 2.

Any manner or fashion of expanding the tubular portion, 0, and clinchlng it upon the spokes may be employed.

In every case it will be observed that the tubular portion, 5', of the center reinforc ing member stops short of the back face 4 of the wheel center portion, whereby the inner face of the wooden hub center of the wheel is made certain to squarely engage the metal back flange, H, of the hub. The hub bolts, as shown, pass through the portion 5, thence through holes in the hub center of the wheel and thence into threaded openings in the back flange of thehub. Under this arrangement a strong frictional engagement is set u between the wooden hub center of the whee and the metal hub.

The hub-centering and reinforcing memher, 5, 5', performs all the functions of the usual front flange, and more; and there is no danger of its being separated or lost.

By preference I make the member, 5, 5,- of s e et metal, by a stamping process. The material emplo ed need not be heavy, and

for-the sake o reinforcing the portion, 5,- and providing seats for the heads of the bolts, H", I stamp or form the member with a raised rib 5", best shown in Fig. 3. The portions, 5", directl beneath the bolt heads, may be raised s ightly above the intermediate portions of the rib.

I thus provide a wheel which is absolutely complete and reliably stable within itself, and onein which I preserve the desirable wood-to-metal frictional contact between the wheel and the metal hub; and in which the compremibility and resilience of the wood hub center of the wheel is preserved for the purpose of locking the hub bolts when the latter have been screwed tightly in place.

A wheel constructed in this manner is essentially climate-proof, and will not become loose or warped however long it may be carried or stored as a spare wheel while not used or clamped upon the hub.

Having thus described my invention, I

. claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A wheel having a complement of wooden spokes, the butts of which form the hub-center of the wheel, in combination with a metallic centering and reinforcing member comprising an outer facing flange 5 and an expanded tubular portion, 5, between which p ortions the ends of the spokebutts are clamped.

2. A wheel having a complement of wooden spokes, the butts of which form the hub-center of the wheel, in combination with a metallic centering and reinforcingmember comprising an outer facing flange 5 and an expanded tubular portion, 5, between which portions the ends of the spoke butts are clamped and said tubular portion being of ,less length or width than the thickness of the spokes.

3. A wheel center member, comprising a tubular portion 5 adapted to be expanded at the inner end, and a facing flange portion 5, adapted to engage the outer face of a wooden hub center.

4. A wheel center member, comprising a tubularportion 5' adapted to be'expanded at the inner end, and a facing flange portion 5, adapted to engage the outer face of a Woodenhub center, and provided-with a reinforcing rib 5 containing the hub bolt holes.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 18th day of August, 1921.

ERLE KING BAKER. 

